Vancy Mae Mayes of Bryan, who devoted her life to helping others, passed away unexpectedly in her sleep on June 12th. She was 69.
For more than 20 years, she was a program administrator for the Brazos Valley Community Action Agency, which provided services for the poor in a seven-county area. These included Head Start, child care, Meals on Wheels and other food programs, and reconditioning homes to make them more energy efficient.
For five years, until she retired in 2015, she served as the local leader of Catholic Charities, which provided utility and monetary assistance, parent education and legal services for those in need. She helped launch the Bryan office and establish its permanent location on Cavitt Street.
Vancy was the only child of Robert F. Manning, a cotton farmer and cattle rancher, and Callie Saladino, whose Italian heritage Vancy held with great pride. She was born in Bryan on June 4, 1948, and is a 1966 graduate of Stephen F. Austin High School. She met her future husband Dave in a journalism class at Texas A&M, from which she graduated in 1970. They would have celebrated 45 years of marriage on June 24.
Together they had two children: Logan Manning Mayes, now a youth minister at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in northwest Austin and married to Sadie Kline, and Sarah Elisabeth Mayes, a financial accountant at Texas A&M.
Vancy was devoted to her Catholic faith, prayed the Rosary daily, and volunteered for numerous church endeavors. She prayed her husband into the Church and supported his ministry as deacon at St. Thomas Aquinas parish for the past 10 years.
She loved her family dearly, and constantly saw Christ in others, treating them with warmth and kindness. She was an amazing cook, enjoyed reading romance novels and loved working word puzzles.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church at 10 am on Friday, June 16, 2017. Interment will follow at Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Bryan. A Vigil is planned for 5 to 8 pm on Thursday, June 15, 2017, at Hillier Funeral Home in Bryan. A Rosary will be said at 7 pm.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to St. Anthony’s Catholic Church.